Placeholder image

ABAP development with Arc-1

| Marian Zeis |

ABAP Development AI

YouTube

Anchor

Spotify

Apple

Episode #292

Introduction

In episode 292 of our SAP on Azure video podcast we talk about Arc-1!

Just last week SAP releaed the ABAP Development Tools for VS Code which means that ABAP developers can now officially use VS Code for their development. While this is really great and I am also starting to test it, I have to admit that for me the way how ABAP development works has moved on and away from Eclipse. My colleauge Alice had released VSP - Vibecoding for Steampunk - and what happend afterwards was truly amazing. The community picked up a lot of things and enhanced it with MCP Servers, new ways to integrate in GitHub Copilot and Claude Desktop appeared – and then someone published an MCP Server that uses the SAP ABAP Development Tools (ADT) to connect to your SAP system. It gets even better: it can run on the SAP Business Technology Platform which means that in a lot of cases you can use your existing infrastructure including the SAP Cloud Connector to get started. I am really glad to have Marian Zeis, the developer behind Arc-1, back with us, to talk about it.

Check out the Repo for Arc-1 here: https://github.com/marianfoo/arc-1

Find all the links mentioned here: https://www.saponazurepodcast.de/episode292

Reach out to us for any feedback / questions:

#Microsoft #SAP #Azure #SAPonAzure #VPS #SAPADT #Eclipse #VSCode #CopilotStudio #ABAP

Summary created by AI

  • Introduction and Context of Arc One:
  • Holger and Marian discussed the recent release of ABAP development tools for VS Code, the evolution of ABAP development away from Eclipse, and the emergence of Arc One as a community-driven open source project for SAP integration, highlighting Marian’s role and contributions.
    • ABAP Development Tools Evolution: Holger explained that ABAP developers can now use VS Code for their development, marking a shift from Eclipse, and noted the community’s rapid adoption and enhancement of related tools, including MCP servers and GitHub integration.
    • Community Contributions: Holger highlighted Marian’s active presence in the SAP community, mentioning his work on MCP servers, AI integration, and his GitHub repository listing various MCP servers relevant to SAP, as well as his insights on API policy.
    • Naming and Inspiration for Arc One: Marian described the naming process for Arc One, which was inspired by SAP’s naming conventions and resulted from a brainstorming session, settling on ‘ABAP relay connector’ as a proxy solution.
    • Open Source Philosophy: Marian emphasized that Arc One is open source, advocating for accessibility and community enhancement without subscription fees, and noted the importance of maintaining and documenting the project based on user feedback.
  • Technical Architecture and Enterprise Integration:
  • Marian and Holger explored Arc One’s technical architecture, focusing on its integration with SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), Cloud Foundry, MCP servers, and enterprise authentication frameworks, detailing how Arc One enables secure, scalable SAP development workflows.
    • ADT APIs and MCP Server Integration: Marian explained that Arc One leverages ADT APIs, which are the backbone of Eclipse-based ABAP development, and combines them with MCP server deployment on Cloud Foundry to provide enterprise-level authentication and authorization.
    • Security and Authorization Controls: Marian described the granular security features in Arc One, including default read-only access, role-based permissions, package allow lists, and the ability to selectively enable write or delete operations, ensuring safe enterprise usage.
    • Authentication Methods: Marian outlined authentication options such as API keys, OAuth, and principal propagation, allowing users to authenticate against the MCP server and then to the SAP subsystem, with support for technical users and user-specific rights.
    • Supported SAP Systems: Marian confirmed that Arc One supports both cloud-based and on-premise SAP systems, provided ADT services are enabled, and tests against both the latest ABAP trial system and the oldest available ECC system (7.5).
    • Continuous Testing and Maintenance: Marian shared that Arc One includes integration and end-to-end tests against live SAP systems, ensuring reliability and coverage for a wide range of actions such as report creation, activation, deletion, and dump analysis.
  • Practical Use Cases and AI Integration:
  • Holger and Marian demonstrated Arc One’s practical applications, including read-only analysis, bug investigation, code suggestions, and migration of legacy SAP projects, showing how AI and MCP integration streamline SAP development and maintenance.
    • Read-Only Analysis and Debugging: Marian illustrated how Arc One, when integrated with tools like GitHub Copilot, enables developers to analyze code, search for usages, and investigate bugs in SAP systems without write access, supporting efficient debugging workflows.
    • AI-Assisted Code Suggestions: Marian explained that Arc One can suggest code changes based on AI prompts, allowing developers to review and apply recommendations, even in read-only mode, enhancing productivity while maintaining control over code modifications.
    • Legacy Project Migration: Marian showcased the migration of a legacy SAP Gateway (SEGW) project to RAP (Restful ABAP Programming) using Arc One and AI-driven skills, detailing the step-by-step conversion process, reduction in code complexity, and creation of Fiori elements applications.
    • Iterative Skill Improvement: Marian described how errors encountered during migration are documented and incorporated into reusable skills, enabling iterative refinement of AI prompts and conversion processes for smoother transitions from ECC to S4 environments.
  • Integration with GitHub Copilot and Teams:
  • Marian and Holger discussed Arc One’s compatibility with GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Teams, highlighting enterprise-ready workflows, single sign-on, and the ability to perform SAP operations directly from collaborative platforms.
    • Copilot Studio Deployment: Marian explained how Arc One can be deployed on BTP Cloud Foundry and accessed via Copilot Studio, enabling full read-write operations and integration with collaborative tools like Teams.
    • Single Sign-On and Principle Propagation: Holger and Marian detailed the authentication flow, where Arc One uses Entra ID tokens to authenticate users, ensuring that SAP operations are performed with the user’s own permissions and maintaining enterprise security standards.
    • Automated Notifications and Monitoring: Holger suggested use cases such as automated dump notifications for SAP admins in Teams, leveraging Arc One and Copilot Studio to trigger daily checks and AI-driven root cause analysis.
    • AI-Driven Research and Investigation: Marian demonstrated how AI can assist in researching SAP dumps, identifying root causes, and providing actionable insights, streamlining administrative and support tasks within enterprise environments.
  • Community Engagement and Next Steps:
  • Holger encouraged the audience to explore Arc One, contribute feedback, and engage with Marian’s open source project, emphasizing the importance of community-driven development and continuous improvement.
    • Feedback and Issue Reporting: Holger invited users to test Arc One, report issues via the GitHub repository, and share their experiences, while Marian expressed interest in learning how the tool is used in practice.

Links

Video index

Based on and using Hugo Cookbook Theme, Font Awesome Icons and Bulma CSS. | Thanks to Recipes4AJ to get me started. | Contact me via